Legislation proposing to reform Colorado’s telecommunication laws, including the phase out of an antiquated program that refunds more than $50 million annually to companies for providing land-line phone service, was postponed indefinitely today in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“I am disappointed that the Senate Democrat leadership let politics derail a long-overdue reform that would have lowered the surcharge on phones and returned millions of dollars to hardworking Coloradans. They should have allowed the bill to be debated on its merits,” bill co-sponsor Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, said in a statement.

Scheffel introduced and withdrew a similar bill last year.

Opponents of SB 157 included CenturyLink[3], the Monroe, La.-based phone company that receives more than 90 percent of the Colorado High Cost Fund subsidy that had been targeted for elimination by 2025.